"gink"?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

On 8/31/2011 4:50 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
> ....
> But if we want to get conjectural, what the hell is the origin of U.S.
> "ginch" ('sexually attractive or available young woman/women')? Big in the
> '50s, IIRC.
--

Conjectural only: "ginch" = "small piece" (Scots): in Wright's EDD
(Banff) and Warrack's "Scots Dialect Dictionary".

(Cf. "gunch" = "big piece".)

I think the earlier citations seem compatible with a non-obscene usage:
perhaps comparable to "piece of fluff/skirt/etc.".

-- Doug Wilson

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